India in New York - September 5, 2014

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VOL. XVIII NO. 11

India in New York A GUIDE TO EVENTS AND ENTERTAINMENT FROM INDIA ABROAD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

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MEET MANJUL BHARGAVA, WINNER OF MATH’S BIGGEST GLOBAL HONOR

India in New York

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INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

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‘Tremendous goodwill for the reception in the community’

Rajeev Bhambri Chief Operating Officer-US Media THE EDITORIAL TEAM NEW YORK Aziz Haniffa, Editor, News Arthur J Pais, Editor, Features Suman Guha Mozumder, Associate Managing Editor George Joseph, P Rajendran, Deputy Managing Editors Paresh Gandhi, Chief Photographer Ritu Jha, Special Correspondent Parimal Mehta, System Manager Production: Dharmesh Chotalia, Production Supervisor.

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Registrations for reception for Prime Minister Narendra Modi already exceed Madison Square Garden’s capacity tribute it.

Registration of desis from outside New York-New Jersey will be processed first. he number of people who have It is not advised to bring children to registered through community the event, and children above 2 years of organizations for the reception in age must register for an individual tickhonor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi et. Multiple tickets will not be issued to may have exceeded the maximum capacthe same person, and tickets are nonity (20,000) of the Madison Square transferable.

Garden, according to Dr Bharat Barai, “Things are going as planned and everychairman, Indian American Community body is doing their part,” Dr Barai said.

Foundation, which was set up for the “There is tremendous goodwill for the purpose of hosting the reception. reception in the community.”

Four hundred and seven organizations He said money is not expected to be a have registered at the Web site (pmvisproblem, and several committee memit.org) set up for the reception. The bers have come forward to fund the deadline for members of these organizaworking capital. tions to register was September 1.

“Ordinary people are also donating Registration for individuals who are what they can afford,” Dr Barai said. not affiliated with a supporting organi“Through the Web site people are donatzation was open from September 2.

AMIT DAVE/REUTERS ing $5 or $10 and already it has reached Some of these seats are for individuals Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than $50,000.” willing to pay $1,000 per seat. Some He said a committee of 200 people people can still get free seats, according and about 1,000 volunteers are working nonstop to make the to Dr Barai. event a grand success.

Registration does not guarantee that one will get a ticket for Dr Barai said many people from India have shown a keen the event. Before issuing the ticket, the IACF will verify the interest to attend the event. “We have no tickets for them. This organizational affiliation. People have to re-confirm their event is for the Diaspora only,” he said. “We will accommodate interest in attending the event via e-mail/text. After that, the the press people or lawmakers coming from India.” printed tickets will be sent to the organization who will dis-

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Niagara sports Indian colors

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n a first, the Niagara Falls was illuminated with the colors of the Indian flag thanks to the efforts of the Rajasthan Medical Alumni Association of North America.

The RAJMAAI held its silver jubilee celebrations between August 14 and 17 at the Hotel Marriot Gateway on the falls, attended by over 300 physicians and their families from all over the United States.

At RAJMAAI’s request, the Niagara Falls Parks Commission decided to illuminate the falls with the Indian tri color for 15 minutes the night of India’s Independence Day, August 15, said Dr Shashi Shah, the RAJMAAI president.

‘We deem it as a singular honor for our motherland as the world-famous Niagara Falls was illuminated so that tourists from the American and Canadian side could view this spectacular display,’ said Dr Ajay Lodha, vice president, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, and the RAJMAAI convention committee chair.

The grand sponsor of the celebrations was New York-based cardiac surgeon Dr Samin Sharma and Bollywood singer

At the request of the Rajasthan Medical Alumni Association of North America, the falls were illuminated with the Indian tricolor for 15 minutes, August 15.

Kailash Kher performed at the convention.

Dr Ravi Jahagirdhar, president, AAPI; Dr Ajeet Singhvi, chair, board of trustees of AAPI; Dr Om Ganda and Professor P C Dandiya were the convention’s honored guests.

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INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Bharat Sevashram Sangha New Jersey celebrates 17 years site in Jersey City before it moved to Kendall Park. It was a small venue before the temple management with the help of patrons, built a $3 million, he Bharat Sevashram 12,700-square-foot, two-story Sangha celebrated the building amid serene sur17th anniversary of its roundings in 2012. facility in Kendall Park, New At the three-day celebraJersey, last week with three tions, Swami Purnatmananda days of spiritual music and initiated a number of devodiscourses. tees into the order by giving Over 200 people from New them diksha.

Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania attended the “We keep on trying relentthree-day celebrations, which lessly, but one has to underbegan with a Ganesh puja Attendees included New Jersey Assemblyman Upendra stand that generally young people who join the order August 29.

Chivukula and state Senator Linda R Greenstein these days are not always as The Sangha, established in passionate about the cause of 1917 by Swami Pranabananda in Bajitpur in what is now Bangladesh, has five chapters In the Sangha as they used to be some 50 or 60 years ago,” the United States; the oldest one, in New York, was started Swami Purnatmananda said.

“I think there are good and honest people within the 25 years ago.

The New Jersey chapter used to operate from a rented order who are trying to give their best to society and that

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India celebrated in Iselin

makes us optimistic.”

Besides Swami Purnatmananda, others who delivered discourses at the anniversary celebrations included Swami Bhajananda amd Swami Puskarananda from Toronto, and Swami Tadatmananda, founder of the Arsha Bodha Center of Somerset, New Jersey.

A yajna for world peace was held August 30 evening, presided over by Swami Amarnathananda in the presence of about 100 people.

New Jersey Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula and state Senator Linda R Greenstein were present at the celebrations.

‘BSS is very special because this is based on the principle of service, and it is such a quiet and peaceful place here,’ Chivukula said. ‘This kind of ashram is very much needed. It brings all the people together and promotes our sanatan dharma. There are many temples in New Jersey and more are in the making. But the important thing is that we need to have sustained movements towards keeping our culture and tradition alive through our children and youth… They are the ones who will carry on this tradition and keep it alive.’

The Kendall park facility offers classes on Indian music and dance, the Bhagavad Gita, the Hanuman Chalisa, and meditation. Children, who take lessons at the ashram, performed at the celebrations.

“It is so wonderful,” Greenstein told India in New York. “I had been here at the temple many times before right from the time when the management needed clearance from the Planning Board and I helped them with their plan. It is such a wonderful community of people.”

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he Indo-American Cultural Society, the Man Making group and the First Presbyterian Church of Iselin celebrated India’s Independence Day August 15.

Attendees included New Jersey Assemblymen Craig Coughlin, Patrrick Diegnan, Upendra Chivukula and Raj Mukherji, and Edison Councilman Dr Sudhanshu Prasad.

Assemblyman Chivkula thanked the community for bridging the gap between the United States and India.

Councilman Prasad said Oak Tree Road has a special place in the heart of every Indian.

Assemblyman Mukherji called for better coordination between the community and the local bodies, and presented an assembly proclamation to community leader Pradip ‘Peter’ Kothari.

The cultural program included a dance performance by

members of the Moksha and Arya Dance Academy, and patriotic songs by Umesh Patel and Nidhi Kumar of Bombay Beats Group. Speakers included Hardeep Singh, Roger Chugh, Rajeev Bhambri, Atma Singh, Jaswant

A snapshot from the event.

Singh, Raman Shah, Subhash Doshi and Mukund Thakker. Jayesh Mehta was the emcee.

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Ganesha in New Jersey Paresh Gandhi’s snapshots from the Ganesh puja on Oak Tree Road, Edison

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INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Numero Uno Manjul Bhargava speaks to P Rajendran about winning Math’s biggest global honor Manjul Bhargava’s rock star status at the International Congress of Mathematics 2014.

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anjul Bhargava is back after what he describes as “an overwhelming couple of weeks” in Seoul, where he was feted, feasted and finally mobbed into unruly retreat by hundreds of fans — in numbers enough to disconcert even a mathematician. Well, that’s what comes of winning a Fields Medal, as Bhargava managed to do August 12 at the International Congress of Mathematicians, held this year in South Korea.

Now back in the United States, the R Brandon Fradd Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University is spending much of his time replying to 2,000-plus emails and hundreds of invitations to talk at different functions, and attending the US Open, cheering on his friend, tVania King.

In South Korea, Bhargava said, mathematics is very big — both among students and those who decide what policy actually makes a country go forward. To stress the point, the government declared 2014 the Korean year of mathematics.

According to the ICM, it drew nearly 20,000 people, of which official participants numbered only 5,217 (yes, the organizers had to have that number down pat at least; this was a math congress). Those who attended included thousands of high school and college students.

The Fields Medals, possibly the highest honor in mathematics, was handed out by Park Guen-hye, the president of South Korea.

Bhargava said the Korean president was extremely excited to be there and was there the whole of the first day. He said that veterans compared that response with the time the Congress was held in the US in 1986. Then the organizers could get neither the US President (Ronald Reagan) nor the California governor (George Deukmejian) at the time to attend.

In countries like South Korea the pure sciences and scholarship for its own sake are more respected, he said, adding,

“You don’t see as much in the United States — or India, for that matter. Those [interested] in pure sciences in India are the ones who tend to come to the United States, to get the opportunities and respect they might not get in India.”

Besides the South Korean media, there were journalists from many countries present, though not from India. Al Jazeera represented the Middle East, at least partly because one of the likely contenders for — and an eventual winner of — the Fields Medal was Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian who works at Stanford University.

“You could see which country was interested [in mathematics] by which media was there,” he said, adding, “The Indian media didn’t show up at all.”

He added, “It was like a big sporting event — the opening ceremony, commentators making remarks about each little thing that happens.... It was [like] a really spectacular sporting event.”

As part of that effort, Korea’s Educational Broadcasting System covered all the ceremonies with live commentary.

One of the most interesting people Bhargava met at the Congress was Ingrid Daubechies, president of the International Math Union, and a professor at Duke University.

“She has done some amazing things in the last three years to encourage developing countries to sponsor math and mathematicians from developing countries, and to support them to come to this Congress,” he said. “There was a great deal of excitement this time because there were a lot of countries that wouldn’t otherwise be represented because [they] don’t have the resources to support mathematicians.”

There were a few former Fields Medalists who came to various discussions and weighed in at times — such as Vaughan Jones, a distinguished professor at Vanderbilt University, and Timorthy Gowers, a professor at Cambridge University who is also well known as a blogger.

Bhargava himself had wanted to attend various lectures that were relevant to his work, “I had the schedule in front

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of me. I had marked up all the lectures I was excited about.

I ended up going to about two of them in the whole Congress,” he said, laughing ruefully. “The rest of the time was taken up by meetings and press conferences and interviews... I ended up doing only a fraction of what I’d planned to do. I feel a little sad that all these lectures I wanted to attend I could not attend.”

Bhargava plans to make amends, though, since a lot of the lectures were videotaped and have been put online. He said he had made a list of those he wanted to watch when he gets a chance.

Most of the lectures were hard on the attending students, however interested they were, since the language was abstruse and laden with mathematical jargon.

“In my case I made a concerted effort to make it accessible not only to mathematicians but also to the students. I promised the students on the opening ceremony day that you can come to my lecture and you’ll understand everything. I worked hard to make sure that that would be true,” he laughs. “[So] anytime I brought in a new piece of jargon I would explain it in some detail. The students claimed afterward that they did understand everything, although maybe they were just being nice to me.”

In fact, it is easy to follow (http://tinyurl.com/qc85m5s).

Every evening there were gatherings organized by embassies of various countries — US, French, Canadians.

The envoys of these countries hosted the event.

He had about 10 family members, including his mother Mira, a mathematician at Hoftstra University. Among the others were his cousins’ children, Brij, not yet 1; Kalyan, 6; and Arya, 9, who, despite their restless age, kept their peace during the ceremonies. The family is planning

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Numero Uno f PAGE 5 another small celebration, but, given Bhargava’s hectic schedule, that will have to wait a few months.

Going on to speak about the mails he received, Bhargava said about a quarter came from mathematicians offering him congratulations, and saying either that they were rooting for him or that they were expecting him to win.

“I also heard from basically everyone I’ve ever known” — Bhargava laughs self-deprecatingly here — “who happened to hear the news. Lots of people from elementary school and junior high and high school, who I hadn’t spoken to in so long. It was clearly wonderful to hear from them... There were hundreds of those.”

Asked if he is still getting mail, he says they total about 3,000 now. the most recent crop coming from people who saw the media interviews after he won the medal.

How does he feel now? Are there no more peaks to achieve? Or does he find conventional fame a little puerile?

“No. Not really. Mathematicians don’t really work on what they do for awards. For example, for this award, the mathematics that this award was given for was, for me, far more exciting than the actual award. Of course, this award has other consequences. It provides more public exposure for the mathematics set... I view this award as an opportunity, first of all as an encouragement and inspiration to keep going on, to know that what I was doing is appreciated. That excites me to continue [working]. And it inspires not just me but my students and everyone who works with me. The other aspect of the award is that it is an opportunity for the public to learn about mathematics and what mathematicians do, about mathematics education. That’s the thing the award gives, and that’s something nicer if it happens earlier rather than later.”

Have expectations been raised too high, enough to intimidate him?

“I don’t know. It can happen in the long term but so far it hasn’t changed… what I plan to do next,” Bhargava said, adding that the accolade may give him a little confidence to continue doing what he has been doing.

He cited a study that concluded that the Fields Medal actually reduced the winners’ productivity.

When it was pointed out that Peter Sarnak, his friend and his mentor had said that Fields Medal would do no such thing to him, Bhargava laughed.

“I hope the same thing,” he said.

Math, through Manjul’s eyes Research mathematicians’ problems come about for artistic reasons, because they’re beautiful or because there’s a real-life application, which is also very beautiful and exciting, Manjul Bhargava tells P Rajendran

Dr Manjul Bhargava found a way to address a problem involving Gauss compositions when he thought of removing the top of a Rubik’s cube and work with the remaining layers.

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anjul Bhargava, the R Brandon Fradd Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University and winner of this year’s Fields Medal, speaks of math as a thing of beauty.

It has both art and science in it, he says.

In this conversation, fascinating even for those intimidated by math, he explains what is the beauty of math and why it is not an ivory-tower exercise.

Why should one study math?

Math plays a role in all the technology around us. It’s very important to the advancement of our society. But, of course, pure mathematicians are not thinking about the applications when they’re doing their mathematics. I mean, in every single advance in technology that advances society mathematics is playing an increasingly central role.

Of course, the next question would be: ‘Why should we not just only fund and encourage applied mathematics. Why do we think about just mathematics questions for their own sake?’

The answer there is that most of the applicable mathematics that has been discovered over the centuries was discovered not because the discoverer was thinking about the applications, but because they were just doing what they found most beautiful, most exciting, most promising. They could never have imagined the applications that it would eventually [result in].

A large part of the mathematics that is eventually applied is found because of what the scientists found the most fundamental purely from a knowledge point of view, not because they were thinking of the applications. In fact, most likely, no one would have thought of that particular way of doing things if they were just

thinking about the applications.

That does not happen [only] in mathematics; that happens throughout the sciences. Lots of fundamental discoveries are made not when [researchers] were thinking about the applications, but just because they were so fundamental to science.

MRIs [Magnetic Resonance Imaging] was discovered because people were doing space exploration. They wanted to know about our universe — and the side effect was this very important invention.

Number theory… is fun and beautiful and has just fundamental questions about basic numbers that we use every day. Of course now, number theory plays an important role in coding theory and cryptography and computers in general.

It’s important for people to fund – and for people to pursue – not just science for applications sake but science for science’s sake. So when the government decides how to fund scientists India often makes — it’s happening in the US now as austerity increases — [decisions in] the short term and say, ‘We need to fund just the applied sciences.’ But in the long term it’s very important to fund basic science, because we really need to build a nice repertoire of basic science.

What is the beauty of math — the kind that often lies in the eye of the mathematical beholder that eludes a great many others? We all know 2+2=4, so why do we need a proof to show the obvious?

In school, mathematics is taught as, ‘Here’s an artificial-sounding problem and here are the steps that you should memorize that

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Math, through Manjul’s eyes f PAGE 6 will allow you to solve it.’ There’s no indication of why these steps came into being, why they work, why they could be important to another problem. It’s just, ‘here’s the kind of problem, and here are the steps.’ You learn by rote to solve it, and I totally agree there’s nothing terribly beautiful about that.

This is one reason why I didn’t particularly like mathematics class when I was growing up. I would do anything I could to get out of that mathematics class. That wasn’t the mathematics I enjoyed.

Research mathematics is very different than the mathematics that we do in school. First of all, the problems come about because… of artistic reasons. They have an inherent beauty that you don’t [see]. If people haven’t experienced that in school it’s very hard to explain.

Research mathematicians’ problems come about for artistic reasons, because they’re beautiful. Or they come about because there’s a real-life application, which is also very beautiful and exciting.

To go about solving it you don’t solve it knowing someone solved it before. It’s not about rote memorization of some procedure that someone invented; it’s about applying creativity to come up with a new way of attacking the problem. It’s like solving a puzzle. It’s like putting together ideas, interacting with others, and bouncing off ideas off of one another it fits together in this way that exactly gives the answer to the problem.

It’s kind of like when you’re doing a jigsaw puzzle. Everything comes together until it makes a pretty picture in the end.

That’s the kind of feeling you get in research mathematics... You never get to see that the way mathematics is taught in school, which is unfortunate.

[In] research mathematics, the process feels much more similar to solving a jigsaw puzzle or the making of a painting or composing a musical piece. The feeling that you get is much more similar to [those].

That’s the kind of feeling we should try to evoke when teaching mathematics in school. It’s going to take some effort (a pained chortle).

Why is the focus not on application but on just learning? Does not that make math seem an ivory-tower exercise?

I think it is important about people to think about it as a pure subject. Better not to think about it as ivory-tower exercise.

Anybody can engage in it if they want to. I think it’s important that people do it even

if it doesn’t seem immediately applicable.

As I’ve said earlier, it’s important for people to think about it and build a repertoire of basic mathematics, of basic science, even if it’s not being used yet... You may not have the time to think about it at that point [when a problem arrives].

When the need arises, the repertoire of basic science, basic mathematics should be there so that it can be tapped into.

Even if that is not used yet. Even if you don’t have thousands.

Mathematics throws up a great many possibilities, of which only a few reflect reality.

Given that, is math limited in its ability to reflect fact?

I don’t think so. Mathematics can be used to describe all possible universes.

Among them only one of them is the one we have. Usually experiments decide which one of those universes is ours. In many cases we’ve been able to — at least in classical physics — determine which universe is ours. Then there’s the whole next level, which is called String Theory. String Theory has also described possible universes. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have any experiments to decide which one of those universes is ours.

No experiments yet, you mean...

That’s more a limit not of the mathematics but [that we can’t] do experiments.

There are experiments proposed that one day may be possible to do. But we’ve now reached the point where it’s a limit on the experimental abilities. But once we’re able to do those experiments, this will confirm one of those universes as being ours. So it’s not the math that’s limiting here.

Would you go by the Popperian idea that math, while one of science’s main tools, is not falsifiable, and so not a science by itself?

Math has aspects of both art and science in it, depend on what you’re doing. There’s a whole new area of mathematics called experimental mathematics, where you do computer experiments to make predictions. Instead of about our universe, they’re about numbers. Prime numbers should have this property... These are things you can do lots of experiments on.

Computers are so powerful. You can gather data the same way that the sciences gather data about the universe. There’s a lot of data that’s yet to be explained by theory. So part of mathematics is becoming just like an experimental science – where you do experiments, you gather data, and look through the theories to explain them, and then maybe even try to prove those theories. So in that sense there’s a whole area of mathematics that is very much like a science – that’s like an experimental science, not a theoretical science.

‘He is an extremely original mathematician’ Mathematician Benedict Gross and Arul Shankar tell P Rajendran what makes Manjul Bhargava a rock star in the field

Manjul Bhargava was almost mobbed at the conference.

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enedict Gross, who gave the laudatory speech for Manjul Bhargava during the International Congress of Mathematics, has known him since his days at Harvard.

“I’ve known him since he was an undergraduate… and have been delighted to follow his work since,” Gross said in an email.

“He is an extremely original mathematician, who has developed a style which is distinctly his own. You can recognize this style in any of his papers, which could have been written by no one else.

“His method —combining the arithmetic interpretation of integral orbits with their enumeration, using the geometry of numbers —has led to the solution of a large number of problems in number theory. It is of the highest quality, and most deserving of the Fields Medal.”

Gross saw more in Bhargava than a brilliant mathematician.

“Manjul is also a very kind person, who shares his ideas freely with others. (Our collaborations are mostly me listening to him),” he said, describing Manjul’s other interests — the tabla and the arts.

Arul Shankar, with whom Bhargava has done groundbreaking work, described his experiences with his mentor.

“I was Manjul’s graduate student and

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really enjoyed the whole process of graduate school. In particular, it was absolutely great to have the chance to work with him.

He was really generous with his time, and working with him gives an invaluable opportunity to learn his field,” he wrote in an email. “I think it’s great that he won the Field’s Medal! It was for his huge body of work. His thesis was an unbelievable generalization of Gauss, and produced the type of results that haven’t been seen for a long time. He also made major contributions to classical geometry-of-numbers methods, making the tools far more flexible and powerful. I feel extremely lucky to have worked with him and to have had the chance to learn these amazing and beautiful techniques.”

Shankar, too, described Bhargava as a pleasure to be around: “He’s always super exited about the math, and his enthusiasm is very contagious, making work a lot of fun! He’s also got a great sense of humor and is very easygoing. He’s considered to be one of the most approachable faculty members in the department. I’m not sure what being honored will mean in the future. It will probably not make too much difference to his work. He will continue working on very difficult problems, and continue producing beautiful math.”

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Manjul Bhargava, last row center, with other mathematicians and students at the International Congress of Mathematics.

Mumbai and Anitha Srinivasan, then at IIT-Mumbai, showed that Ramanujan had not chosen an arbitrary number, 7, to subtract from a power of 2 to generate five solutions. For, subtract any other number from a power of two and there are at most only two solutions.

Bhargava asked if there are usually no solutions to problems of the RamanujanNagell type, and answered it himself with mathematical certainty of the statistical kind: “Quite probably yes.”

When ‘y’ squared is described as the result of something being done to ‘x’ (standard notation: y squared equals f(x)), Bhargava asked if there were situations when f(x) was also a rational square, given a rational ‘x’ (for there are imaginary numbers like the root of -1 that are perfectly rational when squared.

For those still rusty with middle school material, rational numbers are ratios of two whole numbers, such as 3/5 and 22/7.

Bhargava argued that to answer his question one had to go from two dimensions to the third, wherein the curve produced forms the edge of a surface hanging in space. Since this translates to a 3D unit, mathematicians discuss the complexity of it by using the term ‘genus’ to count the number of holes that go through it. So a sphere will be genus 0, a donut is genus 1, something shaped like the number 8 will be genus 2, and so forth.

COURTESY: WWW.ICM2014.ORG Bhargava says that while the number of rational points can be either zero or infinite in genus 0, either finite or infinite in genus 1, any genus above 1 — including in the 8-shaped structure — has only a finite number of answers. There’s no known algorithm to show how many rational points exist when there are one or more holes in the structure. He worked it out that any such curve of genus 1 can be expressed by saying that the square of ‘y’ is equal to sum of ‘a’ times ‘x,’ ‘b’, and the cube of ‘x,’ when ‘a’ and ‘b’ are standard integers.

Bhargava described how the values of the cube of ‘a’ or the square of ‘b,’ whichever is higher, can be ordered by increasing number. He pointed out that if ranks are given on the basis of the number of possible rational points on any elliptic curve, an ‘r’ of zero could be seen as indicating finitely many points being on the curve, an ‘r’ of one infinite points, an ‘r’ of two a theoretical doubling of that, and later termed Pythagorean triples). The number pairs go as so forth. But he and his student Arul Shankar showed that high as 18,541, the square of which happily adds up to the the average rank is less than .89, implying that more than sum of the squares of 12,709 and 13,500.

11 percent of the curves have only a finite number of Bhargava suggested it was unlikely the Mesopotamians rational points. He described how he and Christopher came up with such big figures randomly and probably had Skinner, also from Princeton, came up with a lower limit some formula for it. for the average rank, 0.2. This implied that at least oneHe also gave the example of Pell’s equation (When a fifth of the curves of genus one have an infinite number of fixed number ‘n’ is multiplied by a square number, when rational points dotting them. does subtracting or adding ‘1’ produce another square?).

He spoke of joint work, with Skinner and Wei Zhang, Indian mathematicians, particularly Brahmagupta (in the that showed that 66.48 percent satisfy the Birch and seventh century) and Bhaskara (in the 12th century), Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture —one of the Clay Institute’s solved what is now called Pell’s equation over a thousand ‘Millennium Problems’ for which a bounty of $1 million years before John Pell looked at it (in the 17th century). has been offered due to its fundamental importance in Bhargava cited a special case of Fermat’s last theorem mathematics. He then went on to discuss the dearth of (arguing that the sum two n-th powers is never an n-th rational points in more complex curves that have more power for any ‘n’ greater than 2), and proof for which was than one hole in them. provided in 1995 by Andrew Wiles, Bhargava’s adviser.

Though the content was abstract, and though Bhargava Bhargava then moved to his central question by bringing clearly skimmed oh so lightly over the more abstruse bits, up Ramanujan’s ‘square’ problem (When is 2 raised to any the material was still far easier to fathom than a nonnumber minus 7 a square?). Ramanujan provided no expert could expect. That’s perhaps why his class on magic proof, but said that the answers were 3, 4, 5, 7 and 15. using math, coming up next semester at Princeton, Trygve Nagell provided a proof in 1948). In 2008, N already has hundreds of applicants.

Saradha of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in

Masterclass

Manjul Bhargava helps P Rajendran decode the math star’s plenary lecture at ICM 2014 (which was easier to fathom than a non-expert could expect)

T

hat Manjul Bhargava is an effulgent star in the mathematical firmaments, even one who knows how to beat a mean tabla, is known. It took his plenary lecture at ICM 2014 to see that he can also teach in a way that could make marginally interested non-experts understand a little of his work.

Bhargava made it a point to thank his teachers, mentors and colleagues, before starting out with some historical data, citing the case of megaliths dating back to 2500 BC in Egypt and northern Europe to suggest that there was older precedent to what is now known as the Pythagorean triples, where there are three integers (such as 3, 4 and 5; or 20, 99, and 101) in which the sum of squares of the first two make up the square of the third.

This, of course, is what most of us studied in school when dealing with right-angled triangles, where the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides. In the case of the megaliths, the evidence is only visible in stone, and has no inscriptions to substantiate it. But Bhargava cited another record, from Mesopotamia from around 1800 BC, that actually listed pairs of numbers that make up the length of one leg and the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle (and which were

Cover Story

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INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

From right, Mira and Manjul Bhargava with former Fields Medalists Martin Hairer and Artur Avila, mathematician Hyungju Alan Park, and a guest.

‘He wants to get back to his mathematics’

COURTESY: WWW.ICM2014.ORG

Manjul Bhargava’s mother Mira tells P Rajendran about what concerns the mathematician now

M

ira Bhargava may find it a little hard to overestimate her son Manjul. He has achieved almost every benchmark that a mother, particularly one who teaches mathematics herself, can seek in a child.

But she might be excused for being a little worried that Manjul has not been able to get much done after Ingrid Daubechies, president of the International Math Union, first told him in March that he was to be handed a Fields Medal later in the year.

“Everybody had been talking about it for a long time,” she said. But the run-up to the event, the reception at the Congress, and the aftermath have been rather overwhelming, she said.

She said that first there were interviews conducted by special journalists picked by the organizers, a painstaking fact-checking process, a confidential video and photo shoot — for which Manjul had to take breaks from a sabbatical in California. There were many conversations and emails.

His colleagues were interviewed, but not told what it was for, she said — though it is likely they might have guessed, given that Manjul was approaching 40, the cut-off age for the Fields Medal, which many were quite certain he would get.

“He hasn’t got any work done since March,” she said. And now he has professional trips planned to Heidelberg, Germany, and Warwick, England. “He is a little concerned.

He wants to get back to his mathematics.”

Mira Bhargava dismisses any worries, though, that just winning will make a difference to his productivity.

“He certainly enjoys what he does,” she said, adding critical acclaim does not matter to her son. “He gets ideas and he doesn’t get time to publish all these ideas. It will take him years to publish (them).”

And yes, he still hangs on to many children’s toys that he uses to view mathematical problems from a different perspective.

She was happy to see the adulation he received in South Korea: “Those people have so much value for math –more than in America. He was surrounded by people.”

But things radically changed after he explained his research on stage in terms that anybody with some knowledge and a little more interest could grasp.

“After his lecture, people went crazy,” Mira said. “A mob of 200 surrounded him.” She remembers someone telling him, “You’re a rock star.”

But rock stars have to be careful of fan enthusiasm, too.

“He kept moving with the mob [and at one point] he was up against the wall. I was a little worried.” she said.

Walking out of the auditorium was hard but things began getting out of hand in the hallway.

“People began to push each other. There were some rowdy people who really wanted to get ahead. [Manjul] motioned to security,” she said, and described how 12 people herded him into a secret passageway that she and her colleagues

were allowed into only after she protested that, after all, she was the mathematical rock star’s mother. They stayed in the passage for nearly half an hour until the guards were sure that the mob was not waiting to waylay Manjul at the other end of the passage.

The shoving mob also managed to hurt his shoulder.

Korean organizer Hyungju Park was rattled by this.

‘I didn’t anticipate this or I’d have made security arrangements,’ he said while apologizing to Mira.

“I never thought that happened with mathematicians,” she admitted later. “It doesn’t happen here [in the US].”

It was clear that Manjul could not walk from the hotel to the conference hall without looking like candy on an anthill.

So he had to hide and get there, Mira said.

And while the other Fields Medal winners could announce a place and time they could sign autographs and expect a good and respectful response, Manjul, realizing that he was the celebrity du jour, and judiciously decided to turn up unannounced for a little while and sign the few who did show up. It took all of 10 minutes for the word to get around, Mira said. And then Manjul found himself in the thick of another mob.

She remembers the time before this award, when Manjul gave a talk in Bengaluru and there was a long line of students to the hall where he was speaking. And that was not even a concert, the likes of which Manjul, an accomplished tabla player, is wont to give.

“Concerts are out in India,” she said, firmly.

Desi View

10

Looking at NYC, from the Rear View AARTHI BELANI

A

fter 12 ecstatic years in Manhattan (Even hard times in Manhattan come with a certain sheen — a David-Ives-dialogue, jazz-in-the-evening, art-imitating-life-imitating-art sheen), work and love have moved me to Palo Alto, California. Like many newly displaced New Yorkers, I pine for New York City.

If you love it — I loved it from day zero, and before I moved there, it was a destination in my imagination, thanks to years of splitting a New Yorker subscription with my oldest friend — NYC is a hard city to leave. I do find ex-New Yorkers who left it when they were fed up, and affirmatively wanted quiet, to be able to see the stars at night and to move through the world enclosed in the private bubble of their own car. They are happy here.

Unlike me, they do not miss that the falafel cart owner on the street corner finds out all your business, sometimes before you do.

It’s a cliché to compare NYC and the Bay Area. And it makes zero sense to compare them. But, inevitably, they get held up for comparison, one, because so many New Yorkers end up out in Northern California — probably because we walk fast and talk fast, with increasing speed, until we generate escape velocity and find ourselves sud-

denly wandering around, blinking in the sunshine, in Palo Alto. Also, New Yorkers are prone to evaluating, ranking and comparing everything. Let me be the umpteenth to give my take on NYC versus the Bay Area.

Agoraphobia vs claustrophobia. Most visitors to the Big Apple experience the density as an assault on the senses — a cacophony, a jumble of smells, the rational fear of someone’s spit ending up on your neck. But the multi-ethnic, many-tongued throng is my beige (perhaps because of where my life started, in Bombay [maybe we imprint?]).

Newly expatriated from my concrete jungle, here in Palo Alto, if a frog in my yard snaps his tongue out, I’m propelled from the eerie silence to the front window to make sure that nothing untoward is happening and to triple check my locks and security system (and to me the Xfinity sign in the yard looks more like an inviting ad for video games than a warning that the house is protected).

It was the density of people in Manhattan that made me feel safe. Even in high-walkable-score Palo Alto, my neighbor across the street is a cat — or at least, I’ve never witnessed that house to have any other occupants. (My neighbor in NYC was a Korean sweater designer and awesome at karaoke.) Even in San Francisco, I’ve walked lovely, boutique-lined, twinkly streets, like Union, and counted the other pedestrians on one hand. To a Manhattanite,

It was the density of people in Manhattan that made the author feel safe.

SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

this place can feel forebodingly vast and unpeopled. (But I completely understand how especially most Americans just don’t find the 18 inches you get in NYC, by E B White’s estimate, to be enough personal space.)

Walking vs driving. My body dislikes the car lifestyle. I have started tracking my walking mileage on my recent trips back to NYC, and I average six miles a day when I’m there. At the end of a day in Palo Alto, even if I worked out in the morning, or biked to and from work, my body moved much less than during a comparable day in NYC. The body is humming at the end of a day in NYC. Weekdays vs weekends. The Bay Area wins weekends, hands down. Bayareans trade off their weekdays for their weekends, it seems to me. The geographic spread means people don’t do as much on weekdays. Each weekday, for most (even SF dwellers), is consumed by commuting and working. But on weekends, they might take in a redwoods hike, wine country, a city brunch, a beach bonfire, surfing, a zen retreat… It’s an amazingly large canvas to paint on.

Every weekend feels like a mini holiday!

NYC wins weekdays. Thanks to the density, you can do

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Desi View

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INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Looking at NYC, from the Rear View f PAGE 10 ERIC THAYER/REUTERS

six things in one day in NYC. I used to be fond of saying, what we lack in quality of life in NYC, we more than make up for in quantity of life.

Which brings me to: The smallest unit of social interaction, which seems to be 45 minutes in NYC, but is more like two to three hours in the Bay Area.

A reproduction of the art work American Gothic is displayed on a digital billboard in Times Square August 7. ‘Art Everywhere US,’ which ran through Credit goes to my cousin Raj, who has lived in August 31, featured reproductions of 58 classic and contemporary American paintings to spark conversations and museum visits. Aarthi Belani loved both NYC and SF, for this point. Because so much the metropolis for giving her such gifts of art every day. is “on the way” when you live in NYC, and you can way to foothills and groves of eucalyptus, bay and reddo six things in one day, you maintain a much larger circle and British senses of the word, from their plyometric wood trees.

— close friends, activity friends, acquaintances, profesworkouts to their crackerjack socks. They remind me Each place offers a different kind of spiritual journey. sional contacts, neighbors, etc. And because there is such (again, superficially) of the women of NYC, who are sucOn a recent trip to NYC, I did a house swap with a joura diversity of livelihoods and nationalities in NYC, you can cessful, multi-talented and intelligently stylish — it’s actunalist friend. ‘Gototherapy’ was his WiFi password, and to know a stimulating variety of people (and truly keep up ally kind of awesome to be a woman in the Bay Area, pick up his keys I met up with his landlord right by a with them over the years). because it is absolutely the norm to be always in your runqueue for pastry, the neighborhood green juice vendor and In NYC, it is so easy to meet up for breakfast or coffee or ning clothes, with your hair in a ponytail and without a the neighborhood conceptual public art satirizing the a drink en route from work, or take in a show, then a dab of makeup on. green-juice lifestyle. nightcap, because you basically live on a campus. Trying The men here accessorize their outfits with their eyeDespite the innumerable distractions, there is no escapout your friend’s new restaurant, going to an ‘ideas party’ glasses like the women of NYC do with their shoes. I keep ing reflection in NYC. In an interstice on the subway you for a social entrepreneur, attending a panel your friend is telling my beau that we need to start some kind of dating might glance up and see an ad for the Society for Ethical moderating or swinging by a gallery opening; meeting service to put together the women of NYC and the men of Life asking, “Why am I here?” And the multitude of lives someone for dinner or a walk in the Bay Area, so they can apprecithe park because he’s going ate each other’s careful curation of being so differently led around you, pressing up against you all the time, could lead you down a rabbit hole of serithrough a divorce, or she just had everything, and wake up and In NYC, it is so easy to al ambition, paralysis, insanity or FOMO if you don’t find a miscarriage — in NYC, you can meditate and drink their kale an answer to that question. really make time for people, smoothies together. meet up for breakfast Bayareans spend their days rapid prototyping the future, And, finally, the number one because you’re not spending time or coffee or a drink en which at its best (among environmentalists and designers reason that it makes zero sense to driving. And in turn, the urban for extreme affordability, for instance) can mean the compare NYC and the Bay Area: family is there for you. route from work, or expansion of the moral community — the set of beings They feed the soul in very differMy friends who have let the Bay take in a show, then a whose interests we give intrinsic moral consideration. ent ways.

Area seep into them say that they Everyone here says that if I give it enough time, nature The day I left NYC, I walked have come to appreciate the nightcap, because you will seep into me, that I will become so used to the sight of by the Museum of Arts and intentionality required in relabasically live on a the cosmos, tramping in the woods and the sound of the Design, and saw the tiniest pubtionships here. Maybe, in time, I’ll ocean, that I will wonder how I ever lived without them. lic art exhibit: A two-inch diamcome to feel what they’re talking campus… In NYC, you Everyone says that if I stay in the Bay for two years, NYC eter porthole for passersby to about. (I do hear them all say, can really make time will come to seem noxious and loud, and I’ll feel at home look into a minuscule diorama, though, that it’s difficult to seed with my sunlit lemon tree in the vast, starlit West. which, on the day I walked by, and maintain community here.) for people, because It’s still too soon to tell. I’m so new here, and it can be was of a landscape with incrediSo far, I just miss the community you’re not spending so ahistorical, that I’m still feeling the unbearable luciteble visual depth.

I have in NYC, and how things ness of being.

I pondered the bittersweetness snowball there easily. time driving. And in of leaving a metropolis that daily Men vs women. Ok, very gross turn, the urban family Aarthi Belani is a transactional lawyer who recently gave me such gifts of art for a new generalization here, but, superfimoved from New York City to Northern California. home where the Pacific’s waves cially, the men of the Bay Area are is there for you.

She is also an accomplished maker of puns. crash against raw cliffs that give turned out — fit, in the American

Special

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INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

The poet in the salon Pramila Venkateswaran, new poet laureate of Suffolk County, Long Island, is taking verse to newer corners, finds George Joseph

P

oetry is alive and ticking, believes Pramila Venkateswaran, the new poet laureate of Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.

“Poetry is becoming more and more popular in the US and in India, contrary to some people who declare that poetry is dead,” Venkateswaran, professor of English at Nassau Community College, told India in New York.

“Today, because of so many poetry publishers, MFA programs in creative writing, opportunities to publish and present one’s work, poetry is thriving.”

“The move to select poets laureate in almost every county and state across the country is an indication that the spread of poetry is only being furthered rather than curtailed,” she added.

A poet laureate is appointed for two years. Former poet laureates look at the publication record and service to the community of poets in the county and then choose one who fulfills both criteria and who would be willing to serve for two years bringing poetry to the county, either by organizing readings and workshops or by mentoring younger poets.

“I have been serving Suffolk County by organizing readings in places where poetry is not usually present, such as farms, veterans hospitals, breast cancer survivor groups, and elementary schools,” Venkateswaran said. “I am also planning a reading in a hair salon. I imagine it will be on the theme of body image and self-esteem. I also mentor younger poets, an extension of the work I already do with students at the Nassau Community College, where I teach in the English department.”

Venkateswaran came to the United States from Mumbai, to do her PhD, and has been living on Long Island since the 1980s.

“Poetry on Long Island is flourishing,” she said. “When I first came here in 1985, I did not know of a single reading that was happening. Today there are so many poetry events in every town, a poetry listserv, a calendar, workshops, and master classes offered by some of the best American poets that Long Island has become a poetry paradise. We are also enriched by being connected to New York City where many of us perform, and many from the city are eager to read on the island.”

Her poetry books include Thirtha (Yuganta, 2002), Behind Dark Waters (Plain View, 2008), Draw Me Inmost (Stockport Flats, 2009), and Trace (Finishing Line, 2011).

“I write poetry, nonfiction, and critical essays. But I mostly write poetry,” she said. “I began writing when I was in my teens, and published my poems in small local magazines in Mumbai. I was surprised when I was published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta, in 1981. That was a wonderful moment.”

There were no writers in her family, though her paternal grandmother was a singer and composer in Kerala.

“My mother was an avid reader of Tamil literature and used to read to us from Tamil classics when we were kids,” Venkateswaran said. “I mostly read British and

Pramila Venkateswaran, second from left, with her family.

German poets, and after I migrated to the US to do my PhD in English, I began to delve into contemporary American literature.”

“S

ince I was educated in English and my second language was Hindi, I only had a rudimentary knowledge of Tamil. I lived mostly in Mumbai, but also in Kolkata, Cochin, and Chennai. In my 30s, I worked on building up my reading and writing skills in Tamil, and now I write poems in Tamil as well. I have translated a few Tamil poems into English.”

She is currently working on a book of poems about her grandmother’s life as a musician in early twentieth-century Kerala. She is working with classical and folk melodies of the region, recreating them in English meter.

She has won first prizes in national poetry competitions such as Two Review and String Poetry, and was a finalist for the Allan Ginsberg Poetry Prize and in the Finishing Line Chapbook poetry contest.

She has recited her poems internationally, most recently at the Geraldine R Dodge Poetry Festival. Her essays and reviews have appeared in The Writer’s Chronicle, The Women’s Studies Quarterly, Socialism and Democracy, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, and in anthologies of literature, culture and politics.

Venkateswaran believes her cultural heritage brings an important dimension.

“The other day I read some poems in Tamil,” she said.

“The audience loved hearing poetry read in a different tongue. And a different perspective on issues. Some people think of me as a poet, others as an Indian poet and others as an Indian-American poet. It all just depends on the context. Identity is in the eyes of the beholder.”

“In the US I was faced with the challenges of bridging cultures, especially when it came to bringing up my daughters.

But as I got more rooted in the US, I found that I was more immersed in India than ever.”

“In America, I did a lot of my growing up as an adult — I completed my PhD, gave birth to two daughters, taught full time, tried to balance writing, teaching, and child rearing.

It was tough, but I managed with the support of friends and family. When I left India, I was very young and I did not have any responsibilities other than getting an education.”

When her children were very young, she started Balavihar to teach children devotional songs, chanting, and Indian philosophy — so that her kids too would have a sense of identity and knowledge of their heritage.

“I tried to open up this group to different religious groups. Occasionally, I would have Sikh and Muslim kids, but ultimately the group was primarily Hindu. I sublimated my nostalgia through Balavihar and writing about India,” she said.

“I was teaching South Asian literature, I was constantly reviewing and writing about South Asian poetry, my poetry looked at my family’s past. I was pretty current with many of the literary and cultural productions from India.”

She said she tries to be in touch with poets writing in India. “I publish on www.museindia.com and therefore have seen many contemporary Indian poets there.”

Pulitzer Prize winner Vijay Seshadri and she — along with many South Asian poets — feature in in Indivisible: Antholgy of Contemporary South Asian Poets, edited by

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INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

The poet in the salon f PAGE 12 Pireeni Sundaralingam.

Venkateswaran’s husband, I V Ramakrishnan, teaches computer science at Stony Brook University.

Their older daughter is in medical school and the younger one works for an NGO, Prime Trust, in Pondichery.

“What I do miss about India are the sacred spaces — the special feeling within temples, synagogues, mosques, and churches,” Venkateswaran said. “Even if the sacred is eroding in much of the urban culture, somehow the sacred spaces retain a sense of timelessness. We lose this sense of the sacred in the sectarian politics.”

She said a proud moment was reading at the Dodge Poetry festival in New Jersey, where many international poets were invited to read.

“I was simply amazed by the audience,” she said. “The tents under which we read were packed. I had never before seen so many poets in one place. Plato should have been there.”

Thirtha 11

By Pramila Venkateswaran The bus conductor thunders, “Haaji Ali,” above the muezzin’s pitch, above cymbals clashing around the corner by the jasmine vendors.

I wait among garish women on a ribbon of road at the head of the bay, where double-decker buses hurtle into town, the dome rising behind me, white and gleaming at low tide.

Crows and gulls wing about, searching.

On the floor of the bay, a path moves steadily to Allah’s heart.

I think of Muhammad describing to Meccans

the light he had seen above the seventh tier of the mountain — it was bright, you know, like… but couldn’t find metaphors to paint the image that stunned him.

The singing on the cliff mingles with the muezzin’s prayer.

Both loud, their long syllables wind down the water’s edge, rise among the birds, dip low, lift, and circle mosque and temple.

Nudged from one random thought to another, I wait for the right bus.

“Do you know if 47 comes here? It’s new,” asks a woman in green.

I shrug, ‘I’m new.”

One stops; a call pierces the heat, “Mahalakshmi”: Different names for the same stop, different names for God.

Wayfaring in Kerala

By Pramila Venkateswaran

SIVARAM/REUTERS

We pass quietly under generous arms of mango trees.

Behind, water separates like cut glass.

Ahead, the sky drops into the river, leaving its twin way up, cloudless, untroubled, expectant.

A few black wings among tall bushes on the bank, some in the distance like a small swarm of bugs.

A slow swish, as oars pull up, the murmur of talk, a laugh, as we settle into our togetherness on the houseboat, my pen traveling, my sister’s brush soundlessly moving from palette to paper, our eyes drinking water, sky, sand, impenetrable green, sudden whiffs of jackfruit, rank waste, or neutral air, mostly the luxuriousness of being rowed, thatched roof keeping us cool, lifting any frown off our faces, imagination doing its quiet dance among us sprawled in our chairs, sipping, reading, drifting.

14

Aseem in Telluride INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Coppola.

Salgado.

Stewart.

A scene from Apocalypse Now.

I

n the late 1970s, when Marlon Brando showed up in the Philippines for his three-week shooting schedule for Apocalypse Now — for which he was paid $3 million — his physical appearance shocked director Francis Ford Coppola.

Brando had put on a lot of weight and he could not fit into the Green Beret uniform that Coppola’s costume designer has prepared for the actor.

“They don’t make XXXL Green Beret uniforms,” Coppola said this past weekend at the 41st Telluride Film Festival. He was speaking after a special 35th anniversary screening of his 1979 film Apocalypse Now. After a long conversation with Brando, Coppola decided to make the actor wear black. “We convinced Marlon that his character had gone native,” Coppola said.

The decision to only partially light the scenes with Brando had much to with Coppola wanting the audience to feel they were entering the heart of darkness — a reference to Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novel that was the film’s inspiration.

“Since I was making the film I always carried with me Conrad’s book in my back pocket,” Coppola said.

Apocalypse Now suffered from many traumas. The production ran out of cash and Martin Sheen had a heart attack during the shoot. Coppola’s wife Eleanor shot a documentary about the making of the film — Hearts of Darkness, which was also shown at Telluride.One change Coppola made during the shoot was that of Dennis Hopper’s character. Originally, Hopper was supposed to play a Green Beret who joined forces with Brando’s Colonel Walter Kurtz character.

“When Dennis arrived on the set he was such a live wire that I decided to create a different role for him,” Coppola said. He gave Hopper a number of cameras and told him he was to play a photographer, somewhat inspired by the Russian character in Conrad’s novel.

The Telluride screening of Apocalypse Now — a brand new digital print — was the original theatrical version of the film.

In 2001, Coppola released a longer version of the film and called it Apocalypse Now Redux.

Filmmaker James Gray, who moderated the conversation, asked Coppola which version of the film he liked.

“It depends on how much time you have,” Coppola said, laughing. The Redux version is three plus hours long.

T

he 41th Telluride Film Festival ended on Monday. This year’s festival included over 50 programs, with some films that are already generating buzz for the Oscar season including Foxcatcher, Wild, The Imitation Game and Birdman.

My favorite film at the festival was a documentary — The Salt Of The Earth, directed by the German master Wim Wenders and Juliono Ribeiro Salgado. The film focuses on the life and work of Salgado’s father — the great Brazilian photog-

A

rapher Sebastiao Salgado. Using Sebastiao’s stunning photographs — mostly black and white — and his voice to narrate the works, the film captures his compassion for the suffering of mankind.

From Sebastiao’s early works — the stunning images of thousands of miners in a Brazilian gold mine to his more recent works in conflict zones in Rwanda, Congo, Ethiopia and Bosnia — the film is seeped in sadness. But it also provides a lot of hope.

Sebastiao, a trained economist, is

a son of a farmer. Over the years the family farm in rural Brazil had lost its energy as trees are cut across the country and climate change made farming a less viable occupation. But Sebastiao, with the help of his wife and a group of agriculturists, revived the farm, replanting trees and converting the property into a national preserved land.

The Salt Of The Earth won the special prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in the US.

nd then there was one big disappointment. Last year, Jon Stewart took a well publicized leave from The Daily Show to direct his first film, Rosewater, based on a true story and a book Then They Came For Me by Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari.

The film focuses on Bahari’s experiences when he came to Iran in 2009 to cover the country’s elections for Newsweek magazine. Bahari lands in jail for his coverage of Iran’s green revolution that followed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election.

Despite wonderful performances — a large international ensemble of actors, including Gael Garcia Bernal who plays Bahari — and all good intentions, Stewart’s film is quite tepid. This could have been a thriller like CostaGavras’s films. But Rosewater is essentially a slow paced, dull, film.

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NY INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL CAREERS

India in New York September 5, 2014

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India Abroad September 5, 2014

India in New York September 5, 2014

17

18

Bollywood INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

W

hen Alia Bhatt arrived on the sets of Koffee With Karan’s recently concluded season, she was kicked in a very relaxed way and understandably so. She was, after all, making a joint appearance with her Student of the Year co-stars Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhavan (who, from what we could tell from the episode, absolutely dote on her).

The trio was to be interviewed by their mentor Karan Johar, decidedly more congenial on his own show than anywhere else, and someone who reserves his fangs for people from outside his own social circle.

What could possibly go wrong? Nothing major.

Only, it kinda blew up in an unsuspecting Alia’s face.

The general knowledge fiasco towards the end of the show (for those living under a rock, when asked who is India’s President, Alia had blurted Prithviraj Chavan — who is incidentally the chief minister of Maharashtra) invited the wrath of Internet trolls, universally regarded as supreme authorities on all things India.

Think Alia Bhatt is stupid?

Think again.

Nishi Tiwari on how the actress trumped online trolls and naysayers

doing something with her about it. A month or so later, during one of our brainstorming sessions, one of us saw an Alia joke on Twitter, and while talking about it, this Mental Gym idea hit us.

So we called her and mentioned the idea to her. And she started laughing at that point and said “Let’s do it.”

It really was that simple.

We didn’t actually sell her the idea at all. She’s very chilled about her public image, and how she’s perceived, even after Koffee With Karan.

Even when that happened, there was no giant PR disaster-management machinery that swooped in to protect her or anything. She rolled with the punches. So when we came up with the idea, she was totally open to it right away.

And then it was just a matter of finding time in her schedule, and that was that.

What kind of a message do you think this video has sent out to her fans and people who follow AIB? We weren’t really thinking in terms of a message; it isn’t a message-based sketch. We just wanted to have fun.

I think one takeaway everyone can go away with is that more celebrities need to get comfortable with selfparody, because it can be a TON of fun, and it doesn’t hurt or kill your “brand” in any way.

Were there any apprehensions/concerns before this video was written/shot?

We’ve managed to get all these people to say yes, so now we’d better not f*** this up.

Karan Johar and Alia Bhatt in Alia Bhatt: Genius of the Year video by AIB. Things took their own course thereafter, with jokes alluding to Alia’s supposed ditziness became daily fodder on various social media platforms.

Amidst all this, arrived AIB’s newest video.

For inhabitants under aforementioned rock, AIB stands for All India Bakchod — a comedy collective formed by four Indian standup comedians: Tanmay Bhatt, Gursimran Khamba, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya — that routinely posts hilarious sketches, parodies and skits on their YouTube channel.

While their work so far has been consistently funny, thought-provoking and hugely popular, their latest video was pathbreaking in its own right.

Titled Alia Bhatt: Genius of the Year, the video stars, well, Alia, her 2 States co-star Arjun Kapoor, her new bestie Parineeti Chopra, and mentor Johar with parents Soni Razdan and Mahesh Bhatt and sister Shaheen thrown in for good measure.

The video, needless to add at this point, has become a viral sensation, not to mention the fact that it has also earned Alia the distinction of being the first Bollywood star to parody herself.

We reached out to Rohan Joshi, who incidentally is dating Alia’s sister Shaheen, to talk about the video, and he readily agreed for a brief interview.

Here, we reproduce the email exchange with the writer-comedian (watch out for the funnies!).

How did the idea for the video come about?

Well, Alia went on KWK, and we all know how that went.

And we’ve known her for a while, so we joked about

From left, Gursimran Khamba, Tanmay Bhatt, Ashish Shakya and Rohan Joshi.

COURTESY: THE OFFICIAL AIB FACEBOOK PAGE

When did you shoot the video? How did you shoot?

Across how many days?

We shot the video over two days at the end of July.

What sort of budgets were you working on? And how did you overcome the constraints?

Shoe-string as always. And we overcame them by feeding Alia and Karan Johar chips and warm water while they were on set.

How did you get Karan Johar, Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and the Bhatts to join along?

I think it helped that Alia had said yes. So they were a little more confident.

But to their credit, none of these people hemmed and hawed at the idea. It was one phone call, followed by one meeting explaining the script, and they said “Yup!” Is that the Koffee with Karan set? Is it a permanent set?

We could tell you, but then we’d have to kill you.

What were the challenges you faced while shooting it?

Shooting in places without people knowing Alia was there! That’s about it!

PS: HA! The joke’s on you, Internet!

Bollywood

19

INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Actress Shilpa Shetty shakes a leg on her way to the immersion.

GANPATI BAPPA MORYA!

Actor Hrithik Roshan, third from left; his niece, his son and his father Rakesh Roshan, right, joined a Ganpati celebration at the home of his maternal grandfather, yesteryear film producer J Om Prakash.

Bollywood celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi Rani Mukerji at the Lalbaugcha Raja. She was one of the many Bollywood stars who went pandalhopping for Ganpati celebrations.

Actor siblings Siddhant and Shraddha Kapoor celebrate at home.

PHOTOGRAPHS: PRADEEP BANDEKAR

Actor Jeetendra conducted the puja in his home with his family and friends.

Actor Govinda, second from right, and his family — from left, son Yashwardhan, wife Sunita, and daughter Narmada — join in the festivities.

Bollywood

20

INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Salman Khan with Vinay Virmani and the Dr Cabbie cast — which includes, from left, Isabelle (Bollywood star Katrina Kaif’s sister) and The Big Bang Theory star Kunal Nayyar — in Toronto.

Salman Khan rocked the Indian population there over the weekend.

According to a member of the Dr Cabbie team, “The minute Salman entered the venue, there was pandemonium. Fans went hysterical.

Vinay apparently asked Salman to sing with him on stage. Says the eyewitness, “Salman initially turned down the request, pleading he wasn’t prepared to perform. But Vinay insisted, arguing that Bhai can’t let down his fans. Salman then took to the mike and sang three songs from Kick. The crowds went berserk.”

Text: Subhash K Jha

COURTESY: KAILASH KHER

On his way back from a two-week tour in North America, Kailash Kher made a quick stopover at the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, San Francisco, following an invitation from the company’s Indian employees. Kher was thrilled to see the music room and happily obliged, when asked by eager fans to scribble something on a wall, with Shubham Bhavatu (which means 'May the best happen' in Sanskrit) followed by his signature.

Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, left, and choreographer Bosco, right, with celebrity hair stylist Aalim Hakim at his birthday party.

ALL THAT GLITTERS

A PEEK INTO THE WEEK’S GLITZIEST TINSEL TOWN EVENTS

Vivek Oberoi, second from left, and wife Priyanka, left, Aalim Hakim and his wife Shano.

Aalim offers his wife some cake as Hrithik Roshan looks on.

Bollywood

21

INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

‘Some of us actors owe our careers to Bapusaab’ Anil Kapoor pays tribute to the legend

Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana aka Bapu

T

elugu filmmaker Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana aka Bapu passed away on August 31, leaving behind a huge contribution to cinema. Besides the Telugu film industry, Bapu influenced the Hindi film industry as well.

Anil Kapoor, who got his big break from Bapu, pays rich

B

Splitsville?

-town media is abuzz with the rumor that actress Nargis Fakhri and actor-producer Uday Chopra have broken up.

Though the couple never confirmed their relationship there was much social media activity to suggest otherwise. Not only were pictures of Chopra and Fakhri’s vacation in the Maldives leaked, Chopra had once tweeted an image of him drinking from a coffee mug with Nargis’s photo on it and on another occasion

tribute to him: I am lucky I met Bapu recently. He wanted me to see his last film Sri Ram Rajyam, starring Balakrishnan. When I met him, I was struck by how frail and weak he looked. I felt scared for him.

Bapusaab was my mentor, guru, guide and philosopher.

I learnt so much from him about cinema and life!

He introduced me to the greats of American cinema, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. He familiarized me with the journal American Cinematographer. Whenever we shot together, mostly in Rajamundhry, all Bapusaab and I would talk about is movies. He was one of the most cinema literate persons I’ve met.

I owe some of my career to him. So does my brother Boney, and cinematographers Baba Azmi and Ishaan Arya. We were like eager students at his feet. Boney and I got our first break as producers in Hum Paanch only because Bapusaab agreed to direct. Hum Paanch made the careers of Amrish Puri and Mithun Chakraborty.

Bapusaab offered me my first lead, in the Telugu film Vamsa Vruksham. Don’t ask me how I managed to do a full Telugu film without knowing the language.

Bapusaab liked my work enough to offer me my first big break in Hindi. Woh Saat Din remains one of the most important films of my career. I will always be indebted to Bapusaab for trusting me with such an important film.

During Woh Saat Din, he taught me about storyboards.

Three years later, I did another film called Mohabbat with him.

Some of us actors owe our careers to Bapusaab. Even Madhuri Dixit. No matter what Subhash Ghai may say about grooming her, it was Bapusaab who saw the spark in her. She was all set to be re-launched opposite me by Bapusaab in a film called Bajrang. We shot a bit of it and it didn’t come out the way we expected. So we dropped that project and made Hifaazat instead. Bapusaab didn’t direct that, but I wonder what Bajrang would have been like if we had completed it.

Bapusaab was so passionate about cinema that he influenced anyone who came in contact with him. I was blessed to have worked so closely with him.

— As told to Subhash K Jha

he had tweeted, ‘Nargis, did you know we are related. Your future sons’ father is my fathers’ son.’ It had led his Dhoom co-star Abhishek Bachchan tweeting, ‘Get a room kids!’

There have, of course, been no confirmations or denials from Fakhri or Chopra, but the rumor mill has already begun churning out the next chapter — ‘a burgeoning friendship with South star Rana Daggubati,’ as the Asian Age called it.

Speaking of broken relationships, the Mumbai Mirror newspaper recently reported, ‘The rift between former best friends Karan Johar and Kajol is well known in the film industry. But the feud threatened to spill over in public recently… Both Karan and Kajol attended common friend Manish Malhotra’s show at a recently-concluded fashion week. In happier times, the friends would sit together on the front row, chatting away as the models catwalked on the ramp. But, this

time they looked through each other.’

The newspaper added, ‘Kajol and Karan’s friendship went sour a few months back reportedly following a row between Ajay Devgn and Karan. Ajay confronted Karan in a telephonic conversation about rumours that he was making unpleasant remarks about him — an allegation Karan vehemently denied. Whether some mischief monger poisoned Ajay’s ears is still not known.’

Uday Chopra and Nargis Fakhri in Mumbai.

PRADEEP BANDEKAR

22

Bollywood INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Sudhir Mishra begins shooting Pyaas

Aamir Khan at the lunch of Satyamev Jayate: Season 3 in Mumbai.

ilmmaker Sudhir Mishra has begun shooting Pyaas, inspired by Devdas, in his hometown F Lucknow. The political thriller has an ensemble

star cast of Rahul Bhatt, Richa Chaddha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Saurabh Shukla and Anurag Kashyap.

‘Pyaas: a film about the addiction of power. The

Aamir returns with the truth “I

Rani as Oprah? ctress Rani Mukerji has said she is open to work in televiA sion.

‘I would like to do a show like Oprah Winfrey who tackles everything... Meets people from different fields, talks on various things. I think it will be a good show,’ she told the Daily News and Analysis soon after the release of her film Mardaani.

PRADEEP BANDEKAR

t has been an encouraging journey so far. I am happy with the response,” said a teary-eyed Aamir Khan during the screening of the promo of Satyamev Jayate: Season 3 in Mumbai.

The television talk show that shone the spotlight on a range of social issues had an overwhelming response in its first two seasons. The third season starts September 21.

Aamir said there are a few changes in the format: “This time I will be live with the people, and I will also connect with them through Twitter and Facebook. This season, we will have some stars and they will make a strong contribution. I can’t say who will be there, as it’s not for publicity or promotion. They are there not because they are celebrities but because they are related to the issue and will be contributing to the show.”

Aamir refused to discuss the topics that will be covered this time but did say he was shocked at some of the things the research for the show has revealed.

“The team goes around the country and they show me the research material, which shocks me. I get angry. I get emotional. I feel the pain,” he said.

“It’s very difficult for me to see such things — it is difficult to absorb emotionally. My patience level has increased and I have stopped being judgmental. I have become more mature with the show.”

Aamir said the show had also changed his public image: “When I was shooting in Rajasthan for PK, reporters didn’t ask me a single question about the film. They were interested in Satyamev Jayate.”

And jokingly added, “I think people are not interested in my films and it’s time for me to retire. Achha ho gaya Dhoom 3 ne bacha liya (good thing Dhoom 3 saved me), it did well.”

The actor credited the director of Satyamev Jayate, his friend Satyajit Bhatkal, with inspiring him to take up social causes.

“Satya was a very good student and used to always stand first in class, while I was an average student. He was also more popular than me.”

Bhatkal studied law and worked for various social causes.

Aamir said, “Seeing Satya’s work, I used to think how can I also be helpful to people. It was something that used to prick me. As I became more successful in my profession, it began to prick me even more. As an actor, I made lots of donations to various causes, but it did not give me that feeling that I was craving for. Around the same time, India began to experience a boom in television. I realized that TV was a very powerful medium and I should exploit it to do something for society. I told Satya about doing a television show and he readily agreed to partner with me and be a constant help to me.”

Satyamev Jayate will be aired every Sunday on Star Plus.

— Sonil Dedhia

Sudhir Mishra script has evolved beautifully. May the Godess of cinema bless me! Shooting in Lucknow,’ Mishra tweeted.

The Hazaaron Khwaaishein Aisi director’s last year’s release was the Arjun Rampal-Chitrangda Singh starrer Inkaar, which dealt with the subject of sexual harassment in work places.

Girls’ night out

Rani Mukerji

Amrita Arora caught up with pals Kareena and Karisma Kapoor recently and shared a picture of them together: ‘#lovlies #sistersforlife.’ Amrita will be next seen in Ek Tho Chance.

TWITTER.COM/AMUARORA

23

India in New York September 5, 2014

IMMIGRATION NEWS DACA RENEWALS AND THE UPHOLDING OF EXECUTIVE ACTION IN ARIZONA DREAM ACT COALITION V. BREWER – PART II

By Michelle S. Velasco* (continued from last week’s article) Interestingly, the Court struck down the law on equal protection grounds rather than conflict-preemption. Generally, courts use preemption analysis to strike down a conflicting state law acting to regulate immigration. In a concurrence, Circuit Court Judge Christen analyzed the case’s conflict-preemption argument and found that Arizona’s policy effectively created a new class of noncitizens who are not under “authorized presence” – a descriptor not recognized in immigration law. The act of creating a new immigration classification, in Judge Christen’s view, is preempted by federal law because states may not directly regulate immigration. Id. at *13, citing Valle del Sol Inc. v. Whiting, 732 F.3d 1006, 1023 (9th Cir. 2013), cert. denied, 134 S. Ct. 1876 (2014). Moreover, in footnote 3, the Court notes that Judges Pregerson and Berzon agree with the concurring opinion, and specifically that the plaintiffs in the case could succeed on a conflict preemption argument.

Here, however, the Court’s majority analyzed Arizona’s law from an equal protection perspective, which gives it lasting and powerful impact. By going this route, the 9th Circuit recognized DACA recipients to be part of a protected class. This can have huge implications for any other state laws that purport to discriminate against this now recognized protected class of noncitizens. Moreover, the Court, in footnote 4, acknowledged that the Supreme Court in other cases applied strict scrutiny standard of review when state action discriminates against noncitizens authorized to be present in the U.S., see e.g. Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365 (1971). But here, the Court states it did not have to analyze under strict scrutiny review because Arizona could not even make its case under the lower rational basis test. In its analysis the Court found it could “identify no legitimate state interest that is rationally related to Defendant’s decision to treat DACA recipients disparately from noncitizens holding (c)(9) and (c)(10) Employment Authorization Documents” Arizona Dream Act Coalition at *8. (emphasis added). It is also worthwhile to note that, unlike the Arizona district court which also held that the Arizona government’s arguments failed a rational basis review, the 9th Circuit found that the protected class, here the DACA recipients, would likely suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a preliminary injunction. The irreparable harm was the limiting of the DACA recipients’ professional opportunities, hurting their abilities to seek or maintain a job in a state where 87 percent of its workers commute by car.

The decision lays bare the type of backlash that occurred after the Obama administration introduced DACA. Conservative pundits and anti-immigration groups believe that these young people should receive no acknowledgement or benefits from a country to which they do not belong. This type of thinking is not only wrong, but it fuels hatred toward a group that, for all intents and purposes, took no part in the decision to enter the U.S. without inspection or to overstay visas. The point of the DACA policy is to respond to the cries from millions of young immigrants brought into the U.S. as children, who have grown up in the U.S., but who are forced to stay in hiding. They are punished for someone else’s sins.

I have personally processed over 100 DACA applications in the past two years. When talking to these young immigrants and their families, it is often impossible to tell apart the individuals who were born here and the ones who were brought here. DACA requestors speak like Americans, look like Americans, and dream the American dream like native-born Americans. It is hard to put into words the unfairness of their lives: to live in a country that is oftentimes the only one they have known, and yet to be denied full recognition and basic equal treatment.

Worse, they are called “illegal” and are made to feel unwanted and unwelcome. This treatment is confusing and painful to many of these young people who had no choice about coming to the U.S. Yet they are undoubtedly the future of this country. They will help shape the U.S. cultural, economic, and political landscape. And we are not doing enough to acknowledge their presence, since they are here to stay, and provide them with the tools to be full active members of American society.

The Obama administration has implemented regulations and executive policies to alleviate some of the pain from long-standing immigration problems that Congress has time and again failed to address. DACA, for instance, was the Executive’s response to Congress’s failure to pass the DREAM Act in 2010. Recently President Obama spoke out angrily against Congress’s ability to compromise on immigration reform, calling it the reason behind his decision to direct more resources to address the ongoing crisis of unaccompanied children. As has been pointed out on this blog, (http://blog.cyrusmehta.com/2014/06/two-aces-up-president-obamas-sleeve-to_29.html) , Obama can expand the use of Executive action to confront problems in immigration law while we wait for Congress pass CIR. The Obama administration can do more than just grant deferred action to young immigrants. DHS could grant deferred action to DACA parents. The Department of Education could grant federal student loans to DACA recipients.

Paradoxically, the Obama administration has specifically rendered DACA recipients ineligible for healthcare benefits under the Affordable Care Act even though prior to the August 2013 rule, DACA recipients would have been eligible. There are myriad ways Executive action, such as DACA, can provide relief to millions of immigrants who live and work beside us every day. Until such time that Congress takes action, the Executive will have to be the branch taking action, and immigrants must be content with its limitations.

Because the basis of a deferred action grant is DHS’s policy of prosecutorial discretion, it remains only in the form of executive action and it is not an actual law passed by Congress and signed by the President. DACA and any other executive action are thus vulnerable to attacks from groups and individuals who consider them an overreach by the Obama administration. These attacks, such as Arizona’s driver’s license law, are often informed by fear and a fundamental misunderstanding of immigration law. Litigation to strike down these anti-immigrant and anti-immigration state laws, which are arguably preempted by federal law, can sometimes take years. Moreover, executive action while necessary in the face of Congressional inaction is limited in scope: it cannot grant visas or permanent residence, which only Congress can do by expanding the eligibility categories for permanent residence.

Meanwhile, immigrants languish in backlogged visa lines, wait months and years for hearings before an immigration judge, face harsh vitriol from anti-immigration groups, and DACA recipients still do not have a way to become fully integrated into American life. * Michelle S. Velasco is an Associate at the firm of Cyrus D. Mehta & Associates, P.L.L.C. Michelle’s practice focuses on representing corporate and individual clients in business immigration matters including employment-based immigration involving labor certification and temporary work visas such as H-1B, L-1, etc. In addition, Michelle has vast experience in a wide range of family-based immigration matters including hardship waivers, consular processing, naturalization, VAWA and U-visa petitions, and removal defense.ichelle earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. She also graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in Italian Studies, cum laude. Michelle is admitted to practice in New York, and she is currently a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the Westchester County Bar Association. In addition to practicing law, Michelle serves as Coordinator for the White Plains Hispanic Day Festival, regularly volunteers at pro bono immigration events, and actively engages with the Filipino-American community in the tri-state area.

Michelle speaks Ilonggo (a Filipino language), Spanish, and Italian. She enjoys learning new languages, and is on her way to becoming proficient in German and Tagalog.

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Health

24

INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Archana Akhil Kumar

Since we always have makeup and hair changes during the fashion week, keeping my skin moisturized is among my top priorities. I cleanse very well before and after makeup.

I use a lot of water solution makeup remover such as Bioderma and Vichy I usually use moisturizers by Kiehls and the eight-hour moisturizer from Elizabeth Arden.

I also use Artistry Ideal Radiance and Youth Infinity Crème. And I use a lot of lip balm.

PHOTOGRAPHS: RAJESH KARKERA

These stunners share their beauty secrets with Rajesh Karkera

For a model’s flawless skin PAGE 25 g

Alicia Komodromos

I use a make-up remover and then I cleanse tone. Followed by that, I use an antibacterial gel on my skin to prevent pimples. Once a week, I exfoliate... just a gentle one and I use a face mask just to keep my skin fresh and nice.

There are no special skincare secrets to take care of your skin during fashion week.

Drink lots of water. Use a good moisturizer. And in-between the shows since we don’t change the foundation, I just spray thermal water on my face.

I eat the right food and drink lots of water. Just the other day I did a juice cleanse, which means I only eat raw food and fresh vegetable juices! I did it for the whole day and it feels really good.

And yes did I mention drink lots of water? Drink lots of water!

HITESH HARISINGHANI

Maria Cherniakovych

Surbhi Rao

Just concentrate on the right diet, eat healthy, sleep on time, get enough sleep and you’ll realize that most of the things like body weight and figure will be taken care of. I personally don’t endorse any beauty products. If you get good sleep and have a balanced diet, it will reflect on your skin.

— Hitesh Harisinghani

Kanishta Dhankar

It is really important to get your make up off correctly and moisturize and clean really well with water.

Don’t forget to hydrate and drink lots and lots of water.

Health

25

INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

f PAGE 24

Sarah Jane Dias

My most favorite fitness mantra is to drink liters and liters of water and to eat at least two portions of fruit every day.

Unlike what people might think, I eat sweets and fried food. But I do it in moderation.

I think for girls in particular it is very important that they feed their mind because the minute you go on a strict diet, you then don’t lose any weight. If you have a fitness regime at least three to four times a week, your skin will automatically take care of itself.

Arshia Ahuja

Usually, I use an oil-based Maybelline eye makeup remover and clean my whole face makeup with it, especially eyelashes because mostly all the glue and the mascara is always stuck there. Then I just wash my face with a Clinique cleanser and Clinique face-wash, apply some toner and get my beauty sleep.

Sanea Sheikh

During fashion weeks I have makeup on my face for 12 straight hours so the first thing I do at the end of the day is remove the makeup using an oil-based cleanser.

An eye makeup remover works wonderfully too. Use it all over your face. Clean everything, including the mascara and the lash glue.

Then use a good face-wash and tone it with a good toner.

Wind up with a night cream and go to bed :-) And yes... don’t forget to drink lots of water during the day!

Sony Kaur

After a hectic day, I take off my make up with makeup remover from The Body Shop.

Then I apply moisturizer and under-eye cream and of course my lip balm. Then I go to bed! :-)

Deepti Gujral

I basically like to use Clinique products because they are allergy free. And some very basic moisturizer, generally gel-based because it is very hot in Mumbai.

Mitali Ranorey

All I do is ensure I cleanse and tone. I use a cleanser and toner and a night cream just before I go to bed. I don’t bother doing anything else... no facial... nothing!

26

The Week That Was INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

PHOTOGRAPHS: MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Modi charms Japan Snapshots of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan.

Above left, at a tea ceremony in Tokyo.

Above, feeding the fish in Kyoto with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Left, inaugurating the TCS Japan Technology and Cultural Academy Soukoukai in the traditional way in Tokyo.

Modi has repeatedly underlined that a closer and stronger bilateral strategic partnership with Japan is indispensable. During his 5-day visit to the country, he not only signed deals and worked on improving ties, he also created memorable moments like these. Even more importantly, he appeared to share an excellent rapport with his Japanese counterpart.

Railway minister’s son accused of cheating

Retired general arrested in corruption case

Model and actor Mythriya Gowda has filed a case against Karthik Gowda, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda’s son, under section 420, 376 and 406 (charges relating to cheating and dishonesty) of the Indian Penal Code.

Her claims that Karthik was married to her surfaced after he got engaged to another woman.

Retired Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh was arrested September 1 on orders by a Delhi court, which dismissed his bail plea for allegedly offering a bribe to then army chief General V K Singh for clearing a file pertaining to procurement of 1,676 heavy mobility Tatra vehicles.

Left without food, Bihar’s flood victims loot warehouse Hungry and desperate for food, over 100 flood victims in Bihar’s Nalanda district broke into a government warehouse and looted food grain September 1 to protest inadequate assistance given to them by the state government, officials said.

The desperate flood victims had earlier staged a protest at a local government office demanding adequate relief. Last week, they had also blocked roads fo hours.

Pakistan violates ceasefire hours after flag meet Hours after India and Pakistan held a flag meeting to defuse tensions along the international border, Pakistan once again violated the ceasefire in the Pargwal sector, the same area where the flag meeting was held.

INS Vikrant, and an armada of warships under the Eastern Naval Command.

It will also house India’s nuclear ballistic missile submarine force.

Historic Hindu temple faces demolition in Pakistan A historic Hindu temple in Pakistan’s garrison city of Rawalpindi is facing demolition to make way for barracks for soldiers, outraging the minority community in the country.

Built in 1935, the Maharishi Valmik Swamiji temple, popularly known as Balaknash Temple, is located in the municipal jurisdiction of the military-managed Rawalpindi Cantonment Board.

New naval base for India

TMC leader says rapes will happen

The Indian Navy has lifted the shroud of secrecy over a major new sea base being built on India’s eastern coast, which will be home to the first indigenous aircraft carrier,

West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress obviously doesn’t believe in learning from its mistakes. After actor and party leader Tapas Pal was flayed for making a statement incit-

ing violence and rape against rival party workers and women, party lawmaker Dipak Haldar made an outrageous statement at a rally. Touching upon the criticism the Mamata Banerjee government was facing over rising crimes against women in the state, he said, ‘As long as Earth exists, there will be rapes.’

Mumbai cop suspended over rape allegation Deputy Inspector General of the Mumbai Police Sunil Paraskar was suspended August 26 after he was accused of rape and molestation by a model.

Hindu conclave opposes worship of Sai Baba A ‘Dharma Sansad’ convened by Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati of Dwarka Peeth raked up a con-

PAGE 27

g

The Week That Was

27

INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

f PAGE 26 troversy by passing a resolution that Sai Baba, the 19th century saint from Shirdi, should not be worshipped as a deity by followers of ‘Sanatan Dharma.’

Indians swap ice with rice in new bucket challenge

Triumph over horror

With the ALS ice-bucket challenge going viral, Indian netizens have come up with their own version, posting videos as they donate rice to those in need.

The ‘Rice Bucket Challenge’ is the brain child of Manju Latha Kalanidhi; it involves donating rice to a needy person.

The biggest mass donation so far, in one of the posts shared by Kalanidhi on her Facebook page, is by 2,000 students of a college who have pledged to donate 2,200 kilogram (4,850 lbs) of rice.

Inside the newly opened Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai at Nariman House. The Jewish learning centre was one of the main targets of Pakistani terrorists who held Mumbai to ransom for four days in November 2008.

The ancient Nalanda University re-started its academic session September 1 in a lowkey manner at its newly-established campus at Rajgir, a Buddhist pilgrimage centre near Patna and a few miles away from the ruins of the ancient Nalanda University where the new campus is coming up.

Its formal inauguration is expected later this month by Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Historian Bipin Chandra passes away Historian Bipan Chandra, a left-leaning expert in the economic and political history of India, died August 30. He was 86.

Author of In the Name of Democracy: The JP Movement and the Emergency, Chandra had written on colonialism, the national movement, contemporary history and fights against communalism.

Among his other works are The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism, Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India, The Making of Modern India: From Marx to Gandhi and The Indian Left: Critical Appraisal..

Court fines Sheila Dikshit for non-appearance Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was slapped with a fine of Rs 300,000 ($5,000) by a court, August 30, for failing to appear before it in a defamation case filed by her against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijender Gupta.

It is the second time she has been fined in the case.

India’s Mars Mission does 300 days in space In a major boost to the Indian scientific

NADISHA DANIEL

Nalanda University is reborn with 12 students

community, the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), on its maiden tryst with the red planet, has completed 300 days of its journey in space and is just 23 days away from reaching its intended orbit.

India to speed up cases against lawmakers Against the backdrop of the Supreme Court setting a deadline to complete trial in cases involving lawmakers, the Indian government will soon write to state governments to speed up such cases, which attract disqualification.

Major power outage in Mumbai All of south Mumbai and parts of central Mumbai were without power for several hours September 2 after a unit of Tata Power tripped. Nearly 40 percent of the city was hit, according to media reports.

Girl leaves Visva Bharati after being sexually harassed A first-year student of the illustrious Visva Bharati University in West Bengal left the prestigious university after three senior students stripped her, took photographs and blackmailed her. The victim and her father alleged that the authorities at the institution did not take any action and instead questioned her as if she was at fault.

India’s chief statistician part of Ban Ki-moon’s group India’s Chief Statistician T C A Anant is part of an independent expert advisory group constituted by United Nation Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that will advise him on measures required to close the data gaps and strengthen national statistical capacities.

Husband of national level shooter arrested in abuse case A Delhi court granted three days transit remand of Ranjit Kumar Kohli alias Rakibul Hussain, August 27, accused of deceiving national shooter Tara Shahdeo into marriage and forcing her to convert to Islam.

Sonia, Rahul not to campaign for UP bypolls

Lalu Prasad Yadav, Arun Jaitley undergo surgery

Despite the Congress party’s disgraceful loss in the general election earlier this year, party president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul will not campaign for the by-elections in Uttar Pradesh scheduled September 13. Party sources said the Congress president, by convention, never campaigns in by-polls.

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav underwent two major heart surgeries — to replace an aortic valve and to repair the aorta — in Mumbai August 27.

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley underwent a planned diabetes management surgery in New Delhi September 2.

Both were recovering well.

Robots to guard Kochi airport Cochin International Airport Limited has ushered in a new initiative for maintaining airport safety by employing robotics technology. CIAL is all set to implement a high-end robotic security system with Canadian-built robotic equipment at an estimated $2 million. To be commissioned in the first week of September, it is the first airport in south India to have a robotics-based security system.

Terrorists digging tunnels under LoC! A 150-metre-long tunnel, recently discovered near a forward post along the Indo-Pak border in Jammu region’s sensitive Pallanwala sector, was apparently aimed to help ferry terrorists, a defense spokesperson said September 2.

The spokesman added that it appeared to be an incomplete tunnel; no exit had been found on the Indian side.

Sports

28

Ambati Rayudu is congratulated by team-mates after his 64 not out during India’s six-wicket victory, August 30.

India versus England 2nd One Day

GARETH COPLEY/GETTY IMAGES

India 304-6 (50)

India aim to seal one-day series

Suresh Raina celebrates the run out of Ian Bell during the third one-dayer between England and India at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, August 30.

India versus England 3rd One Day

England 227-10 (50)

*Alastair Cook st Dhoni b Rayudu 44 (65) Alex Hales c Dhoni b Raina 42 (55) Ian Bell run out (Mohit) 28 (38) Joe Root st Dhoni b Jadeja 2 (7) Eoin Morgan c Dhoni b Ashwin 10 (18) Jos Buttler b Ashwin 42 (58) Ben Stokes c Raina b Ashwin 2 (7) Chris Woakes c Mohit b Shami 15 (27) James Tredwell c and b Bhuvneshwar 30 (18) Steven Finn run out (Rayudu) 6 (8) James Anderson not out 0 (0) Extras: 6 byes:0 leg byes:3 no balls:1 wides:2 Total: 227-10 (50) India: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 8-0-45-1, Mohit Sharma 30-17-0, Mohammed Shami 9-0-40-1, Ravichandran Ashwin 10-0-39-3, Suresh Raina 8-0-37-1, Ambati Rayudu 2-0-8-1, Ravindra Jadeja 10-0-38-1.

India 228-4 (43)

Ajinkya Rahane c Buttler b Finn 45 (56) Shikhar Dhawan c Morgan b Woakes 16 (23) Virat Kohli c Tredwell b Stokes 40 (50) Ambati Rayudu not out 64 (78) Suresh Raina c Woakes b Tredwell 42 (42) Ravindra Jadeja not out 12 (9) *MS Dhoni Ravichandran Ashwin Bhuvneshwar Kumar Mohammed Shami Mohit Sharma Extras: 9 byes:0 leg byes:2 no balls:0 wides:7 Total: 228-4 (43) England: James Anderson 7-0-29-0, Chris Woakes 8-143-1, James Tredwell 10-1-46-1, Steven Finn 8-0-50-1, Ben Stokes 6-0-31-1, Joe Root 4-0-27-0. *Captain

I

ndia, who struggled in the Test series against England, have their tail up after back to back victories in the five-match one day international series.

India’s slow bowlers tormented England again to claim a six-wicket victory in the third One-Day International in Nottingham August 30 and go 2-0 up in the series.

Having lost the toss and being put in to bat, England were bowled out for 227. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bagged three wickets for 39 runs.

Then, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina shared a partnership of 87 for the fourth wicket to help India reach their target with seven overs remaining.

The first game at Bristol was abandoned due to bad weather.

England also struggled to cope with India’s slow bowlers in the 133run defeat in the second one-dayer at Cardiff.

The fourth game was to be played in Birmingham, September 5.

Rohit Sharma c Woakes b Tredwell 52 (87) Shikhar Dhawan c Buttler b Woakes 11 (22) Virat Kohli c Cook b Woakes 0 (3) Ajinkya Rahane st Buttler b Tredwell 41 (47) Suresh Raina c Anderson b Woakes 100 (75) *MS Dhoni b Woakes 52 (51) Ravindra Jadeja not out 9 (11) Ravichandran Ashwin not out 10 (5) Bhuvneshwar Kumar Mohammed Shami Mohit Sharma Extras: 29 byes:1 leg byes:11 no balls:1 wides:16 Total: 304-6 (50) England: James Anderson 10-1-57-0, Chris Woakes 101-52-4, Chris Jordan 10-0-73-0, Ben Stokes 7-0-54-0, Joe Root 3-0-14-0, James Tredwell 10-1-42-2.

England 161-10 (38.1)

*Alastair Cook lbw b Shami 19 (33) Alex Hales c Ashwin b Jadeja 40 (63) Ian Bell b Shami 1 (2) Joe Root b Bhuvneshwar 4 (4) Eoin Morgan c Shami b Ashwin 28 (45) Jos Buttler c Kohli b Jadeja 2 (9) Ben Stokes c Rahane b Jadeja 23 (29) Chris Woakes st Dhoni b Jadeja 20 (23) Chris Jordan lbw b Raina 0 (2) James Tredwell c Jadeja b Ashwin 10 (11) James Anderson not out 9 (8) Extras: 5 byes:0 leg byes:3 no balls:0 wides:2 Total: 161-10 (38.1) India: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 7-0-30-1, Mohit Sharma 61-18-0, Mohammed Shami 6-0-32-2, Ravichandran Ashwin 9.1-0-38-2, Ravindra Jadeja 7-0-28-4, Suresh Raina 3-0-12-1. *Captain

Now, very different voices

here are two things, I think, England are getting wrong when ‘T it comes to their one-day batting.

They’re thinking getting to 300 is a problem and is such a hard thing to do. But why? Their mental approach has to change. Why is it that an India team can just come over here and get 300. The second thing is England’s approach to spin. As soon as they see a pitch where spin might play a part, they struggle and they tell themselves

they will struggle. They should take the game to the spinners and force them to change what they are doing.

Come down the pitch, but do it as late as possible.’

— Former India captain Sourav Ganguly ndia look a completely different team to the rabble that threw in ‘I the towel in the recent Test series.

They are currently giving their hosts

a lesson in how to play 50 over cricket.’

— Former England captain Alec Stewart t is quite clear why England are struggling in One-day cricket at the ‘I moment: they cannot play the turning

ball. We are playing the world champions, India, and we bat like chumps.’

— English batting great Geoffrey Boycott

MICHAEL STEELE/GETTY IMAGES

INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Sports

29

INDIA IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

RUPAK DE CHOWDHURI/REUTERS

N Srinivasan

I

ndia’s Supreme Court September 1 rejected Narayanaswami Srinivasan’s plea for reinstatement as president, Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The apex court said Srinivasan cannot be allowed to take up charge till he is absolved by the Justice Mudgal Committee, which is probing him and 12 players in the Indian Premier League betting and spot-fixing scandal.

Expressing displeasure over the slow speed of the probe, the court asked the panel to complete its investigation within two months and also allowed it to file interim reports against Srinivasan or any other office-bearer who is under scrutiny.

A bench of Justices T S Thakur and F M Ibrahim Kalifulla turned down Srinivasan’s plea that he should be allowed to take charge as the BCCI’s annual general meeting is expected at the end of this month and his signature is needed for clearing the board’s annual accounts.

‘Signing the account book cannot be a ground for reinstatement,’ the bench said.

At the outset of the proceedings, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for

Srinivasan, asked the court to reveal whether there was anything against Srinivasan in Justice Mudgal’s interim report.

The bench said no comments have been made against Srinivasan in the report, but the probe is going on, and he cannot be allowed to function as BCCI president.

It said the committee sought more time as it wants to record the statements of some players who are on tour in England, and also voice samples of some people need to be matched.

The Mudgal committee had August 29 filed its interim report in a sealed cover before the Supreme Court.

‘We saw the report,’ the bench said. ‘Two months time for completion of the probe does not seem realistic. The way in which it is going on, it will take five years.’

The court posted the case for further hearing November 2, but allowed the committee to file an interim report on any individuals if it wishes.

The apex court had May 16 given the task of conducting the probe against Srinivasan, 69, and 12 players to the

BOLT IN INDIA

COURTESY: PUMA

Court refuses to reinstate Srinivasan as cricket board chief

Justice Mudgal panel and asked it to file its report by the end of August. The court had rejected the BCCI’s proposal to conduct the probe through its own panel.

The Mudgal Committee had earlier investigated the scandal and submitted in a sealed envelope its initial report, in which the names of Srinivasan and 12 cricketers were mentioned.

‘We are of the considered opinion that the allegations against the 13 persons including N Srinivasan mentioned in the report submitted in the sealed cover should be investigated into by the Justice Mudgal Committee and the team of investigators,’ the bench had said, ‘because if a new probe committee is entrusted to inquire into the allegations, there is likelihood of the allegations being leaked to the public and such leakage will damage the reputation of the 13 persons beyond repair.’

Besides Justice Mudgal, the panel has Additional Solicitor General L Nageshwar Rao and advocate Nilay Dutta as members.

A group of investigators headed by senior Indian Police Service officer B B Mishra has assisted the Mudgal Committee, which was given the power to probe, search and seize relevant documents and record evidence.

fastest man on earth Usain Bolt arrived in Bangalore September 2 to play a cricket match.

TThishefriendly is Bolt’s maiden visit to India. The World and Olympic champion will be part

of a seven-a-side exhibition match against a team that will feature Indian cricketers including Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan.

Bolt is no cricket greenhorn. He had clean-bowled his countryman Chris Gayle in a T20 friendly match in the West Indies.

The ace sprinter, whose favorite cricketer is former Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis, has said in the past that his first love is cricket and that as a child he wanted to be a fast bowler.

While Team Bolt will comprise his best friend Nugent Walker Junior and Indian spinner great Harbhajan Singh, Team Yuvraj will have Zaheer.

The four-over match, which was to be played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, was to be hosted by former India player Ajay Jadeja.

30

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India in New York September 5, 2014

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32

IHBS: International Human Benefit services presents

Dhruv

Sangari

in concert

A tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

An evening of soulful

Suf i Music & Qawwali Date: October 4, 2014 Time: 7:00-10:00pm

Venue: The Hindu Temple Community Center

143-09 Holly Avenue, Flushing, NY 11355 Parking Center: $5 across center

For Tickets: http:/dhruvsangariconcert.eventbrite.com or call 1.855.900.4427 International Human Benefit Services is a tax exempt 501C (3) organization dedicated to supporting sustainable rural development via healthcare, education, and women's empowerment. For more information visit www.hbstrust.org

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India in New York September 5, 2014